Burlington voters overwhelmingly approved a $68.6 million school budget Tuesday, one year after an unusual defeat.

The budget for the school district of some 4,000 students passed 66 percent to 34 percent.

Outgoing School Board Chairman Patrick Halladay said the voter approval signaled a rebound in confidence in the district's leadership following a period of upheaval and change.

"We are just in a very different place in March 2015 than we were in March 2014," Halladay said. "Over the course of last year, the board and administration has spent countless hours getting a better understanding of the budget and making sure the budget was built on a better foundation."

The new budget is 1.75 percent higher than last year and entails an increase in residential taxes of 2.16 percent.

School Board

School Board challenger Mark Barlow ousted incumbent Scot Shumski for Burlington's new North District with 53.4 percent of the vote. Shumski led the opposition movement against the 2014 school budget.

Shumski released a statement on Twitter thanking supporters and wishing Barlow "best of luck."

"I want to thank the residents of the New North End for allowing me the opportunity to serve as School Commissioner for one term in the neighborhood in which I grew up," Shumski said in the statement.

Anne Judson was elected as Ward 4's new school commissioner with 69 percent of the vote, edging out Arthur Vento, who received 30.4 percent.

Incumbent School Commissioner David Kirk retained his position in Ward 7 with 51.6 percent of the vote. In a close race, his challenger, Helen Hossley, received 47.9 percent.

Last year, Burlington's school budget initially failed amid concerns about overspending, climbing residential taxes and communication surrounding spending. The defeat was a first in more than a decade of voter-sanctioned residential school tax hikes. Voters later approved an amended budget June 3. In between, the superintendent and the finance director announced their resignations, and the School Board regrouped to rework the financial plan.

Last June, "we presented a budget that was very modified in its goals and worked within the budget we had set for ourselves," Halladay said. "The overwhelming passage of this (year's) budget shows that was necessary in order to regain voters' confidence."

New North End resident Josh Safran, who teaches at Burlington's C.P. Smith Elementary School, said he believes voters were sending a message to the school district leadership in 2014 for more transparency in the budgeting process.

"Ironically, the second time they voted on the budget (in 2014), it was actually more than the first one," he said. "Voters still supported Burlington schools. They just wanted to say we want you to be more transparent."

Some voters, however, continued in their criticism of school district spending and elective programs they view as unnecessary. They said the school system's demand for more tax revenue each year is making Burlington unaffordable for low- and middle-income residents, particularly retirees on a fixed income.